Anyone watching the World Series last year or the MLB television network knows about the prestigious youth baseball program called Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities Program (RBI). It is one of the premier youth baseball programs in the country. In the New York area, RBI programs are in Harlem, Newark, Brooklyn, and Queens. The goal of the RBI Program is to provide a program for underserved youth (including low income and minority children) that use baseball and softball as a vehicle to teach life lessons that develop “Major League Citizens”. The first RBI program on Long Island will come to Garden City, with 2010 being the inaugural season.

For the 2010 season, there will be four RBI baseball travel teams based in Garden City in the following age groups: 16 years old and under, 13 years old and under, RBI Junior teams for 8U, and 7U. By 2012, the program will expand to include one team in each age group between 7 - 18 years old. The program will be administered through the Garden City Bombers Baseball, a 501C non-profit organization.

The roster objective is for half the players to be from Garden City, and half being minority or low income players, including from surrounding communities, such as Hempstead, Westbury, and Roosevelt. It is expected that there will be approximately 7-9 openings per age year for Garden City players, and positions on teams are by tryout only. Games for the two younger teams (7-8U) are scheduled as not to conflict with GCAA Little League, and all players are encouraged to also play little league as well.

“This is an honor for Garden City”, said Joe Mohen, Administrator of the Long Island RBI Program, and a founding director of the Garden City Bombers Baseball Club. “The RBI program fills a niche in Garden City, as we can only take a small number of players in each age group. It for young people who are very committed to baseball, and value the opportunity to play on integrated teams. It is not for everyone. We are building bridges between communities, and using peer pressure in a positive way to encourage all our players to go onto college, enhance sportsmanship, avoid substance abuse, and play great baseball”.

Tryouts for the high school 16U and 13U RBI teams will be held at St. Paul’s on Sunday March 14 at 6 pm.

This program is an evolution of the work of the Garden City Bombers over the past 10 years. In 2006 and 2007, when the Garden City Bombers 18 year old team played in international tournaments in the Dominican Republic, Garden City team took along with it the MVPs and pitchers of the Hempstead and Roosevelt High School baseball teams. The combined teams won 6 of 11 games in Santo Domingo, and played brilliantly in an 8 inning tie against a national Dominican teen age all star team. That Garden City team caught the attention of Major League Baseball executives who were traveling in Santo Domingo, and that became the genesis of Long Island RBI.

For more information on the Garden City Bombers and Long Island RBI program, email GCBombers@aol.com, or call 637-8644. Major League Baseball More information is available about RBI at http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/official_info/community/rbi.jsp.